


I Will Travel Across the Land

by wallhaditcoming



Series: You Teach Me and I'll Teach You [1]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Gen, M/M, Pokemon Journey, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-03
Updated: 2012-10-03
Packaged: 2017-11-15 12:56:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/527563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wallhaditcoming/pseuds/wallhaditcoming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fifteen-year-old Pokémon Trainer Erik Lehnsherr runs into thirteen-year-old future Pokémon Professor Charles Xavier in Diglett Cave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Will Travel Across the Land

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AliceDuIkana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliceDuIkana/gifts).



> A belated birthday present for the lovely Alice based on [this](http://aliceduikana.tumblr.com/post/30134149940/had-and-urge-to-draw-erik-with-something-cute-and) awesome piece of art she drew.
> 
> I have many more ideas for this universe that will eventually take us back to that original prompt, but first have the boy's first meeting.
> 
> Erik does not sound fifteen, and Charles doesn't sound thirteen. I apologize for that in advance.
> 
> Story title and series title shamelessly stolen from the US pokemon theme song.

Erik’s hand hovered just above his belt as he picked his way carefully over the rocky terrain, eyes peeled for any sign of movement.   He’d been a trainer for a few years now, but he’d never been through Diglett cave before, and wild pokémon could be dangerous, especially in enclosed spaces.

There was a loud crash, and Erik pulled Milo’s pokéball from his belt, expanding it with a quick tap of his thumb before tossing it towards the threat, turning to face it for the first time in the process.  Erik’s eyes widened, and he wished with all his might he’d been slightly slower on the draw. 

Sprawled on the ground, covered in dirt and debris, was a boy a few years younger than Erik.  His brown hair was on the longer side, but it couldn’t quite hide the blue eyes blown wide with fear.

“Milo, wait!” Erik called as the red beam from the pokéball solidified into his first companion.

The Cubone, already poised to attack, froze, and turned to look at Erik in consternation.

“I was startled,” Erik explained to both the pokémon and the boy sprawled on the ground behind him.  “I’m sorry.”

Erik quickly clambered over the handful of large rocks that separated them, passing Milo in the process, and offered the other boy a hand up.

“Are you alright?” he asked as the boy pulled himself upright.  “That looks like it hurt.”

“I wouldn’t describe it as pleasant,” the boy said, doing his best to brush the dust off legs and short trousers, “but just a few scrapes and bruises.  Nothing to worry about.”

The boy straightened and met Erik’s eyes, a smile on his face.

“Charles Xavier,” he said, sticking out his hand.

“Erik Lehnsherr,” Erik replied, grasping Charles’ hand in his own and giving it a firm shake.

“Lovely to meet you, Erik,” Charles responded with a grin, “I’m sorry for startling you.”

“What were you doing over there anyway?” Erik asked, curious in spite of himself.  Normally he wasn’t one for conversation, but the boy did just fall through a wall, and that was something not even Erik could ignore.

“Well, I’m out on my first research expedition and figured this was a good shortcut, but I got a bit turned around.”

“A bit turned around,” Erik parroted, eyebrow raised.

“Yes,” Charles responded cheerfully.

“And then fell through a wall.”

“It does look that way, yes.  Though to be fair, I had a bit of help with that.  Diglett tunnels are littered throughout the ground and walls here, but they must be much more extensive than I had originally assumed to cause that sort of structural instability.”

Erik stared at the boy before in disbelief, a small smile tugging the corner of his mouth upwards without his permission.  Charles sounded genuinely thrilled to have fallen through a wall in light of the new insight into pokémon behavior.  Then the rest of what Charles said caught up, and his eyebrows shot upwards.

“A research expedition?  At your age?”

Charles rolled his eyes, his expression one of the sort of exasperation that could only be bred through repeated exposure to the same question.  “For goodness sake.  We live in a society where children leave home as early as eleven to cross  the country and battle their peers all for the sake of fame and glory.  Why can’t I do the same at thirteen for knowledge and scientific advancement?  Why should I have to wait at home while you lot gallivant all over the place and no-one bats an eye?  It’s ridiculous!”

Erik looked at Charles, ruddy-cheeked and panting and indignant, and had to fight the impulse to laugh.  He did fight it though, because as amusing a picture as Charles painted at the moment, yelling about children when he’s still mostly one himself, what Charles was saying wasn’t something to laugh at.  It was a hypocrisy Erik himself had faced down over and over in the beginning, when people assumed he didn’t know what he wanted or that he was incapable of achieving those goals just because he was young.

But for all Erik wanted to express to Charles that he understood, he’d been on the road alone save for  his pokémon since he was twelve, and he doesn’t quite know how to do sympathy.

“You sound like you’ve given that speech a few times before ,” was the best he could manage, and it clearly wasn’t good enough, because Charles seemed to deflate slightly even as the boy laughed, his eyes fixed on the cave floor.

“I’m sorry.  I…”

“Don’t,” Erik cut him off softly.  “Don’t apologize.”

Charles looked up at him again, smiling tentatively.  Erik, not knowing what to do, simply stood there.  The silence stretched.

“Well, I’d better be off,” Charles said at last.  “Mt. Moon is still a ways away, and I’d like to get out of this cave at the very least before the sun sets.  Sorry again about the scare.”

Charles turned towards the hole and took a step forward before Erik found himself grasping Charles’ sleeve, calling out “Wait!” without having made the conscious decision to do so.

Charles turned, a hopeful expression on his face.

“Mt. Moon isn’t out of my way.  I could take you.  It’s…dangerous to go alone.”

Before Charles could say anything in response, they were both distracted by a loud growl echoing off the walls of the cave and the sound of paws hitting the ground fast and hard, both of which were growing closer.  Erik turned just in time to glimpse black and orange and white before the pokémon had launched itself the air headed directly at Erik.  Erik could hear Milo running towards him, but he could tell the Cubone wouldn’t be in time.  He did the only thing he could and braced for impact.

It never came.  Charles stepped deftly between Erik and the pokémon, catching it neatly in his arms.  Instead of attacking Charles, as Erik feared, the Growlithe (Erik could see it was a Growlithe now) seemed to settle.  For all it fought the boy’s grip, did so half-hearted, and was careful to avoid injuring him in the process.

 “Maximus!” Charles scolded the pokémon in his arms, “Stop that at once!  Erik is a friend.”

Erik was completely thrown.  He’d never been referred to as anyone’s friend.  The fact that Charles had done so after one brief interaction didn’t bode well for how he would fare on the road.  Too trusting by far.

“As you can see,” Charles said, glancing down at the Growlithe that had taken up growling at Erik in place of attempting to escape its trainer’s hold, “I’m not alone.  But,” he continued quickly as Erik shifted his weight to take a step backwards, “I would love some company, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Normally Erik would mind.  He’d only made the offer because someone traveling unprotected when wild pokémon might attack hadn’t sat right with him. Now that it was clear Charles could take care of himself, he should be off.  Erik didn’t have time for unnecessary trips.  He had to find Shaw, the man who injured his mother and stole her beloved pokémon.  And Erik never traveled with other people.  It wasn’t how he operated.

Still, something about the way Charles was staring at him made him want to try.  And it was obvious that the man couldn’t take care of himself, not really, not if he thought _Erik_ was his friend.

It was just to Mt. Moon, he reasoned.  Barely out of his way.  And if traveling with Charles became unbearable, he could always leave him and strike out on his own again.

“Let’s go then,” Erik said.


End file.
